Note, Central PWI Continues Free UKW Program Throughout Indonesia Post Eid

Hendry Ch Bangun. (Bambang Eros VOI)

After Eid al-Fitr 1445 Hijri, the Central Indonesian Journalists Association (PWI) has again held a continuation of the Free Journalist Competency Test Program (UKW) in 38 provinces throughout Indonesia, as well as one special PWI area, PWI Surakarta.

The General Chairperson of the Central PWI, Hendry Ch Bangun, together with the Secretary General of the Central PWI, Sayid Iskandarsyah, stated that the continuation of this free UKW had been scheduled at the Provincial PWI in accordance with the submission of their respective administrators. Several regional PWIs are ready to carry out free UKWs, including the Provinces of Central Papua, Riau, South Sumatra, and the Riau Islands.

The chairmen of the Provincial PWI enthusiastically welcomed this program. The chairman of the Riau Islands PWI, Andi Gino, expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to improve the quality of journalists in his area. Meanwhile, the Chairman of PWI Southeast Sulawesi, Sarjono, welcomed the free program that PWI members had been waiting for.

"After kick off at the end of December 2023, the Central UKW PWI is free with SOEs that have been successfully implemented in 10 PWI Provinces, namely in Central Papua, South Papua, North Sulawesi, Aceh, Yogyakarta, NTB, NTT, Bengkulu, Lampung, and PWI Central Kalimantan Province," explained Hendry Ch Bangun in a statement received by VOI, Thursday, April 4.

Hendry Ch Bangun stated that at least in the April-May 2024 period, UKW will be held in 10 provinces. Several provinces such as Southeast Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, East Java, West Sumatra, and Kalimantan Province will be the locations for the implementation of UKW.

With the continuation of the free UKW program in these 10 provinces, Central PWI also continues to cooperate with BUMN, which was previously implemented in 10 provinces. Thus, the total provincial PWI that has implemented the free UKW program has reached 20 provinces.

In addition to free UKW, Provincial PWI also has free UKW opportunities with Press Council facilities. The implementation of UKW with Press Council facilities has begun at PWI North Sumatra in March 2024.

The Director of UKW PWI Pusat, Firdaus Komar, expressed his appreciation to the Ministry of SOEs for supporting the free UKW program. This program was also followed by a journalistic competition with a total prize of IDR 50 million.

This journalistic competition opens up opportunities for PWI UKW participants to participate. Participants are asked to send journalistic works with themes related to the role of SOEs in press progress through UKW. The work contested is in the form of a feature with a minimum of 1,500 characters and is sent after three days of implementing UKW in each region.

The implementation of free UKW requires administrative preparation and coordination between PWI Provincial and LUKW PWI. Provincial PWI is also required to publish information related to the implementation of free UKW.

With these various initiatives, PWI continues to be committed to improving the quality of journalists throughout Indonesia through the free UKW program.